


Across the Universe

by bettername2come



Category: Supernatural, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crack Crossover, Crack Treated Seriously, Crossover, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Exposition, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-26
Updated: 2017-07-04
Packaged: 2018-11-05 01:05:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11002758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bettername2come/pseuds/bettername2come
Summary: Sam and Dean search out a way to re-open the portal to the alternate universe to save Mary. Good news: they find an alternate universe. Bad news: it's not the one they were looking for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [A través del Universo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12222237) by [AnBouwer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnBouwer/pseuds/AnBouwer)



> Set post-season 12 for Supernatural and post-season 3/post-Barry Allen getting his act together for The Flash. And for convenience's sake Supernatural doesn't exist in the Arrowverse, and The Flash and Green Arrow characters don't exist in Supernatural's verse.

Sam came running out of the house.  He grabbed Dean by the shoulders, trying to lift his brother to his feet, but Dean struggled out of his grip. “We gotta get out of here, man. The Nephilim’s here and it’s growing fast, faster than Amara.”

“We can’t just leave Cas here,” Dean said.

Sam glanced down at their fallen friend and shook his head. “We can’t do anything for him now,” he said, his voice heavy with regret. “But I don’t want us to be here when Lucifer’s spawn realizes we just trapped Daddy in an alternate universe.”

Dean looked up at the spot where the rift in space/time had been. “What about Mom?”

“We’ll find a way. We’ll find a way to open the rift and get her back,” Sam said.

Dean looked up at Sam, the unspoken thought lingering between them.

“He might not kill her,” Sam said. “Not if he thinks keeping her alive might give him some kind of leverage to get back home to his son.”

“So now we’re counting on the Devil to think things through logically?” Dean asked.

Sam shrugged helplessly. “It’s all we’ve got now. But we have to go.” Once again, he tried to tug Dean to his feet. This time Dean offered no resistance, giving one last look at Cas’s body as they ran for the Impala. They didn’t stop moving until they were back in the bunker.

*

Sam started digging through the library, searching their resources for a spell that could reopen the rift.

“If it took angelic power to open the last two rifts we went through, do we even think a spell could work?” Dean asked.

“No clue. But if witches and angels can both do time travel, it seems like it’s possible,” Sam said.

“Even without the help of an actual witch?”

Sam sighed. “I don’t know. But it’s _Mom_ , Dean. We just got her back. Again. We can’t just leave her in a post-apocalyptic universe with Lucifer. We have to try.”

Dean sighed. “Yeah, I know.” He reached for the file cabinet next to Sam and started searching.

*

It was hours later when Dean suddenly jerked his head up. “Sam! I think I found something!”

Sam hurried over to his brother. “What you got?”

“A spell for a ‘Gateway Between Worlds.’” Dean shrugged. “Sounds like it could be what we need.”

“Does this one require a life?” Sam asked, coming over to take a look.

Dean shook his head. “No. It looks more like basic spellwork. The lamb’s blood, the mercury, Dead Sea brine, and –“

“And what?”

“And one bigass sapphire to ‘direct the energy.’”

“Okay, so what, we rob a jewelry store?”

“More like a museum.” Dean turned the book towards Sam, tapping at an illustration on the page. “I mean, we’re talking like a crown jewel size gem here.”

Sam opened his laptop and started searching. “We can pull a museum heist. We just need to find out where the nearest gigantic sapphire is…and apparently that would be Wichita. Traveling exhibit at the Museum of World Treasures.”

“Gather up the rest of the supplies then,” Dean said. “We’re going to Witchita.”

*

Four hours later, Sam and Dean were running out of the museum with the sapphire clutched in Dean’s fist while sirens sounded in the distance. They got into the Impala quickly, and took off, eventually stopping at an empty parking garage on the other side of town.

“Think the cops’ll find us?” Sam asked as he got out of the car.

Dean slammed the driver side door. “Not the way I drove.” He reached into the trunk for the spell book and other ingredients. He passed them to Sam who laid them out in one of the empty parking spaces.

“How are we supposed to close the rift after we open it?” Sam asked. “If we rescue Mom, but Lucifer gets through with her then Cas and Crowley died for nothing.”

“It says the doorway it creates is temporary,” Dean said. “After we get through, we’ll have to use the sapphire to get back, but at least it won’t just leave a big, gaping hole in reality that just any yahoo can waltz through.”

“All right. Good enough.” Sam rose back to his feet. “Let’s do this.”

Dean reached down, dipping the sapphire into the mixture and began speaking the incantation. He aimed the gem at the space in front of him, and slowly a thin yellow line began splitting open across reality.

“It’s working!” Sam shouted.

“Have the angel blade ready!” Dean said. “We get in, we get Mom, we get out!”

Sam nodded, holding the blade out as he and Dean charged through the rift –

-Right into a park in the middle of a large city, underneath a bright blue sky.

The park looked normal enough. Certainly not post-apocalyptic. Bright colors, children playing, couples walking by holding hands. “Uh, Dean? Where are we?”

Dean looked around at their surroundings as the portal snapped shut. “Well, I’m just gonna say it: I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, Sammy.”

Sam spun in a circle, pocketing the knife before anyone could see it. “No. No, this is the wrong reality. Mom’s not here. Open the portal.”

Dean lifted his hand, beginning the incantation, only to find that his palm was empty. “Hey, uh, where’d the sapphire go?”

Sam looked down at Dean’s empty hand. “You had it in your hand ten seconds ago!”

“I know!”

“Did you drop it?”

“No, I didn’t drop it! You really think I’m gonna drop our ticket home?” Dean looked around at the grass around them, just in case he was wrong, then looked back at the space they had just come through. “I think the portal ate it.”

“The portal ate it?! That wasn’t included in the spell book!”

“Well, maybe no one has ever actually used the spell before!”

“Unbelievable!”

Dean took a deep breath. “Look the spell worked. It took us to an alternate universe. We just have to find another sapphire and we can try the spell again to get us home, and we’ll – we’ll figure out another way to get to Mom.”

Sam nodded uncertainly. “You’re right. Unless – “ He looked around nervously at the innocent bystanders playing Frisbee, seeming to have not noticed the brothers’ arrival in the park. “What if we’re back in that other reality? The one without the supernatural? Maybe that’s why the sapphire disappeared, because magic spells aren’t real, so you can’t keep the tools you used to do the magic spell.”

“All right, so we find a library and find out what we can about his reality before we try the spell again.”

Meanwhile, at STAR Labs, alarms were sounding.

“What was that?” Iris asked.

Cisco tapped away at the keyboard. “I set up an algorithm to detect atmospheric changes consistent with wormholes being opened, that way if anyone gets in or out of Earth-1, I’ll know about it.”

“Please tell me this isn’t just about stalking your portal jumping not-girlfriend,” Iris said.

“Hey! I am offended. This is like ninety-five percent about protecting this earth,” Cisco said.

“And the other five percent?”

Cisco turned back to the monitor, avoiding the question. “It shows the breach in Kanigher Park and it says the breach has already closed.”

Iris leaned down to study the screen. “Well, that’s good right? You don’t want some kid wandering into a breach.”

“Yeah, but that’s weird. Portals don’t just close on their own, unless someone has the power to close them. I mean, if it were Kara or Gypsy, they would’ve come straight here. Okay, well, Gypsy might’ve opened another portal and taken off again. Teleporting into an open public space in broad daylight is a bad idea.” He searched CCTV and satellites for a video feed of the park. “And there’s no obvious supervillain activity of the ‘I don’t care who knows how evil I am!’ variety. It’s just weird.”

“You could always just pop over there and check it out in person. See what you vibe about the location.”

Cisco shook his head. “Did you not hear the part about teleporting into a public place being a bad thing? No, I’m driving.”

Iris laughed. “Yeah, because the white van pulling up to the playground isn’t going to get any weird looks.”

“Good point. You drive.”

Iris rolled her eyes as she reached for her purse. “You’re lucky I don’t have a story to write and I’m bored.”

*

Cisco jumped out the car the second it pulled to a stop. He ran to the spot he had seen in the video with Iris right behind him. He reached down, touching the ground in the spot where the breach had once been and the vibe came, flickering a blue. A strange breach opening, thin and yellow, nothing like the ones he created. Two men, tall and haggard, jumped out of the breach, the taller man carrying a large dagger. As quickly as it had come, the vision flickered back out.

“There were definitely breachers here,” Cisco said. “Something’s off, the breach didn’t look like they normally do.”

Iris shrugged. “Maybe they’re from an earth that hasn’t made contact with this one before. New earth, new kind of breach?”

“Maybe,” Cisco said uncertainly. “They came through with knives.”

“That doesn’t exactly sound like supervillain weaponry. Maybe they were escaping, like refugees or something.”

“Maybe,” Cisco said again. “Either way I think we need to let Barry know they’re on the loose.”

*

Sam settled down by Dean at the table in the library.

“Okay, get this,” Sam said a touch too loudly, earning him a glare from the librarian. “I started with a basic search, just the word ‘magic’ to see if we got the same kind of results we get back in our universe. And a lot of the results were the same, _except_ I also found a bunch of news articles from last May.”

“Why is it always May?” Dean asked.

“Some things are just universal,” Sam said. “Or multiversal. Anyway, there was this guy who was trying to end the world.”

“Oh, they have those here too?”

“Apparently,” Sam said. “Mad scientist end the world, not apocalypse end the world. But it seems like it wasn’t _just_ science because there was a battle between him and a costumed vigilante-“

“A what?”

“Yeah. It seems to be a thing here, just go with it. There was a battle between him and a costumed vigilante in which this guy telekinetically threw the other guy, along with throwing back a bunch of civilians who were watching the battle, who reported that the vigilante guy came back with glowing eyes and said ‘It's not so easy without the magic, is it?’ And the thing is, the paper doesn’t question any of it. It takes this as a reasonable eyewitness account. Which it should because dozens of people came back with the same story.”

“So we’re not in a world without magic,” Dean said. “This is a world where magic’s not only real, it’s publishable fact.”

“Which means the spell should work.”

“And we need to find the closest bigass sapphire available.”

“Already done,” Sam said. “Central City Museum is running the same traveling show they had in Wichita.”

“Which explains how we ended up here instead of Kansas.”

“I guess so. So museum heist part two?”

“It went pretty well the first time.”


	2. Chapter 2

The museum heist did not go well the second time. They had barely gotten the sapphire out its case when a leather-clad figure emerged seemingly out of nowhere.

“Guys, come on. The museum hours are clearly posted on the door. Nine to six. And you’re not allowed to take the exhibits home. New policy.”

Dean pulled out his gun, leveling it at the Flash. “Listen, nothing personal, but we just really don’t have time for this right now.”

“Don’t worry. This’ll be quick,” Barry said. He ran forward, taking the gun out of Dean’s hand.

A crackling sound broke through Dean’s stunned silence. Sam swung his gun at the noise, just in time to see man with long dark hair pop out of a blue, swirling vortex. Sam fired off a shot, aiming for the man’s leg, only for the bullet and Sam to be blasted back by a strange blue blast. He flew through the air, slamming into the wall behind him, his head smacking into the wall.

“Sam!” Dean yelled. He started forward, but Barry pulled him back.

Cisco stepped closer, studying Sam and Dean’s faces. “These are the guys I vibed,” he said. “The ones who came through the breach in the park.”

Dean looked at Cisco in bewilderment. “The guys you what?”

“You came from another earth,” Cisco said. “What are you doing here?”

Dean looked between the men for a moment, considering him options, before throwing an elbow at Barry’s nose and taking off towards his brother. He started to pull Sam off the floor, only to feel a sudden pain at his temple before the world went black.

*

Dean wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he awoke on the surprisingly comfortable floor of a strange blue cell. He jumped to his feet,  searching his pockets for a gun to shoot out the glass and coming up empty.

“We already took all your weapons,” the man in the strange leather suit said.

Dean startled, certain the man hadn’t been there a second ago. “How the hell do you do that?” he asked, wondering if he’d answered his own question.

Barry ignored the question, holding up the fake ids he had found in Dean’s wallet. “And these too. John Osbourne, Phillip Ehart, Ronald Van Sant. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say none of those are your real name, so you wanna tell me what it is?”

Dean stared back at him with cold eyes. “Where’s my brother?”

“Johnny Van Sant is sleeping it off in his own cell,” a voice called. Dean looked past down the hallway to find the longhaired man in sunglasses and his own ridiculous leather getup striding towards him carrying a tablet. “He’ll be fine once he wakes up,”

“If he’s not, I’ll kill you both, I swear,” Dean said.

Barry took in the older man’s stance and his hard eyes, and superpowers or not, he kind of believed the guy could do it. “Your brother was caught in the middle of a museum burglary and he fired at my friend here. It was justified force. And that’s on top of the very important question of what are you doing on this earth?”

Dean forced a laugh. “What makes you think-“

“You aren’t the first people from alternate earths we’ve met,” Cisco said. “But people don’t normally cross dimensions for jewel theft, so you should probably tell us what’s really going on. Starting with your name.” He turned to Barry. "I ran fingerprints and facial recognition. Whoever they are they don't have doppelgangers on this earth."

Dean turned away for a moment, and when his eyes met Barry’s once again, he was smirking. “You want to know my name, but judging by the mask and Sunglasses At Night here, you’re not too keen on people knowing your real names either.”

Barry shrugged and pulled back the cowl. “Probably doesn’t matter too much. Either you tell us and we help you get back to your own dimension, or you don’t tell us and you stay in this cell until you decide to change your mind. Name’s Barry Allen. Or the Flash, if you prefer. Fastest Man Alive, because I have superpowers and that’s how the hell I do that.”

“Superpowers?”

“It’s a thing here,” Cisco said, pulling off the goggles. “Cisco Ramon. I have visions – vibes – throw vibrational blasts, like you saw. I also open portals in space/time, which means if you want to get back to your earth, you’re gonna have to convince me you aren’t just Bonnie and Clyding it through the multiverse.”

Dean crossed his arms. “I’m not saying anything until I talk to my brother.”

Cisco tapped away at the tablet. “No problem. It looks like he’s waking up. Give us a couple minutes.” He hit something on the screen and the solid door snapped back shut, and suddenly Dean felt the ground shake as the cell began moving backwards and up into the air. Dean peered through the glass to see he was in a huge circular space. Where the hell were they? He watched as another cell moved away, replacing the spot where his had been.

Sam tried to keep his balance as the cell moved into place, fists clenched at his sides, prepared for a fight if it came to it. When he saw the men from the museum standing there unmasked he was surprised and confused. “Where’s my brother?” he asked.

“Your brother’s fine. Threatened to kill us if anything happened to you, but other than that he seemed good,” Cisco said.

A faint hint of a smile passed over Sam’s lips. “That does sound like him.”

“Let’s cut to the chase,” Cisco said. “We’re superheroes, we know you’re from an alternate reality and if you want our help getting back there, you’re gonna have to tell us who you are.”

Sam crossed his arms. “I want to talk to my brother.”

Cisco rolled his eyes. “Of course you do. Fine. Check out the screen that should be popping up in the corner of the cell.”

The screens popped out of the walls in Sam and Dean’s cells.

“All right, one jailhouse conference call,” Barry said.

Dean sighed with relief when he saw his brother’s face on the monitor. “Sammy, you okay?”

“I’m fine. Dean, where the hell are we?” Sam asked.

“Pretty sure we’re in the Batcave.”

“The what?” Barry asked.

“It’s a – “ Dean waved it off. “Never mind.”

“Dean and Sammy?” Cisco asked. “Those your real names or you two just fans of classic rock and the Rat Pack?”

“It’s Sam,” Sam said. “They’re our real names.”

“All right,” Barry said. “What are you doing here, Sam?”

Sam looked up at the monitor, wishing he could truly make eye contact with Dean. “You wouldn’t believe us if we told you.”

Cisco shrugged. “Try us. We’ve seen some weird shit.”

“Weirder than your mom trapped in an alternate post-apocalyptic universe with the Devil himself?” Dean asked.

Cisco and Barry looked at each other, trying to decide if Dean was joking or not.

Sam rolled his eyes. “Don’t sugarcoat it for them, Dean.”

Dean gestured towards the camera. “Look at ‘em, Sam! They’re not exactly the pinnacle of normal themselves. I mean, do you see their outfits?”

“So I guess it’s all flannel all the time in your world?” Cisco quipped. “What, grunge never died?”

“Ain't found a way to kill it yet,” Dean replied.

“Okay, so if your plan was to fight _the Devil_ ,” Cisco said, the disbelief seeping into his words, “then how’d you end up robbing a museum here?”

Dean shrugged. “We needed the sapphire for the spell to open the doorway. It wasn’t exactly in the budget.”

“We landed in the wrong universe,” Sam said. “We were going to try again.”

“Yeah, ‘cause your first attempt was so successful,” Cisco said.

“They didn’t have a choice,” Barry said with a knowing look. “They had to save their mom.” He reached out and placed his palm on the scanner, opening the door to the cell. Sam stepped out, eying the others curiously as Barry repeated the process to release Dean.

“They play the mom card and we’re just going to let them go?” Cisco asked.

“If they were going to lie, I think they’d do it better,” Barry said. “If they’re crazy, we can take ‘em. If they’re telling the truth, I’m curious.”

“Where are our guns?” Sam asked.

Cisco held up a hand. “Hold up there, Big Guy. We’re not ready to put you back at ‘armed and dangerous’ status yet.”

“That’s fine. We’re good with just ‘dangerous,’ Dean said.

“You know I still haven’t decided if I want to help you or teleport your ass back into that cell,” Cisco said. “So you might want to tone down that threatening thing you’ve got going on.”

“We’re sorry,” Sam said sincerely, holding out a hand to keep Dean from speaking. “You literally came out of nowhere, firing was an instinct.”

“Yeah, cause apparently you fight _the Devil_. I can see where a ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ mentality comes in,” Cisco said.

“I did try to tell you you wouldn’t believe us,” Sam said.

“Well there’s one way to tell whether or not you’re lying,” Cisco said, holding out his palm.

“We hold hands and sing ‘Kumbaya?’” Dean asked.

“I told you I have visions,” Cisco reminded him. “They’re triggered by contact with an object or person. I can see your past or future, see if you’re telling the truth. Unless you don’t want me to. ‘Cause you’re hiding something.”

Dean rolled his eyes. “All right, we can do the trust exercise thing.” He placed his hand in Cisco’s. Cisco closed his eyes and focused, waiting for the familiar flicker of sights and sounds but none came.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re just holding my hand, dude,” Dean said.

Cisco pulled back. “This usually works. I don’t know why, but I’m not getting anything.” He waved Sam forward and held out his hand. “Let’s try you.” Sam put his hand on Cisco’s, and Cisco tried again, but once again was greeted with only the insides of his eyelids. He sighed. “I don’t know why it’s not working.”

Sam looked to Dean. “What do you think? The sigils?”

“The what?” Barry asked.

“Enochian sigils. They hide us from angels,” Dean said. “Apparently, they hide us from whatever the hell you are too.”

“Okay, well that sucks for you, because even if you are telling the truth, it’s going to be a lot harder to find the world you’re looking for if I can’t see your memories of it.”

“All right, then give us the sapphire and we’ll get ourselves out of here.”

“We returned the sapphire to the museum,” Barry said. “Superheroes can’t just rob places. Often.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, start by telling us about where you want to go. Why do you think the Devil’s there?”

“Because we were trying to trap him there,” Sam said. “He came back through to our world, and Mom hit him with angelic brass knuckles. Threw him back through the portal. To save us. But the gate closed before she could get back through.”

“And you think she’s still alive?” Barry asked.

“We don’t know,” Dean said. “But she’s the only family we have left besides each other. If there’s a chance, we have to try.”

“All right, if I can’t vibe on your earth’s frequency we’re going to have to try this the old fashioned way – trial and error.”

“Does that mean you’re going to give us our guns back?” Dean asked.

Barry sighed. “Follow us.”


	3. Chapter 3

Sam and Dean lagged behind as they followed. “Do we really think we can trust these guys?” Dean wondered.

“They managed to knock us out and we’re still standing here, even after I shot at one of them. All things considered, that’s probably a good sign.”

“And we know the little guy can open a portal. And if they’ve got powers, maybe they can help us get Mom back.”

“Yeah, ‘cause everyone’s just dying to jump into a fight against Lucifer to save a stranger,” Sam replied.

“They’re calling themselves superheroes. Seems like just the kind of thing a superhero might do,” Dean said.

“Are we absolutely certain they’re not insane?” Barry whispered to Cisco as they led the way back to the Cortex.

“The Spear of Destiny was real,” Cisco said. “Devil and angels ties right into that.”

“And I have a time remnant who’s a Hindu speed god,” Barry countered. “Sometimes things have alternate explanations.”

“Either way, I think they’re right about their mom being in danger. That worry. About family. It seemed real,” Cisco said.

“Yeah, it did.”

They entered the Cortex. “All right, this is where the magic happens,” Cisco said. “Well, science. This is where the science happens. Most of the magic happens in Star City.”

Barry reached into a drawer and withdrew the brothers’ weapons. “That’s everything you had when we caught you.”

Dean and Sam studied the guns, making sure everything was in working order.

“So you’re ready to try this? Hopping through the multiverse until we find the right one?” Cisco asked.

Dean shrugged. “Sounds easier than our original plan.”

Cisco nodded. “Okay, so judging by your surprise, metahumans aren’t a thing on your earth?”

Sam shook his head. “No. Some psychics, witches, ghosts and monsters, but, uh, no superheroes.”

Cisco nodded again and grabbed a pad of paper. “So that rules out a bunch of the universes I’m familiar with. Earth-2, Earth-19.”

“Supergirl’s Earth,” Barry supplied.

“Wait, Supergirl? Supergirl’s real?” Dean asked.

“Why? Have you heard of her?” Barry asked.

“He may have watched the movie from the eighties a few hundred times,” Sam said, unable to keep the smile off his face.

“There’s an eighties movie about Kara?” Cisco asked. “Oh, we are so finding that DVD when we get to their earth.” He shook his head and began writing again. “Focus. Earth-3 is out. They talk normally, so I think Earth-17 is a no-go.” He sighed. “Wherever your earth is, I don’t think I’ve been there before. Unless…”

“Unless what?” Dean asked.

“Well, I went to one earth that definitely fit the post-apocalyptic description.”

“All right, so do your thing and let’s check it out,” Dean said.

“All right you asked for it,” Cisco said. He threw up his hand and the four men jumped through the breach –

–Straight to the top of an active volcano. Sam and Dean backed away from the edge, only to look around and see that the entire landscape seemed to be comprised of volcanoes.

“Are we back in hell?” Dean asked Sam. “Is this hell?”

“I don’t think so,” Sam said, sounding unconvinced.

“So not the world you’re looking for, then?” Cisco asked, disappointed.

“Gypsy brought you here?” Barry asked.

“Not on a date. When she tried to fight me to the death,” Cisco replied.

“You dated a girl who tried to fight you to the death?” Sam asked.

“You’re one to talk,” Dean said.

Sam shut up quickly after that, ducking his head to avoid the quizzical stares from Barry and Cisco.

“Wrong world,” Dean said. “Let’s go back. Now.”

Cisco sighed. “Fine.” He re-opened a breach and they returned to the relative safety of STAR Labs. “All right, so that world was a bust.”

“No kidding, Sherlock,” Dean said.

Cisco glared at him but kept talking. “But it did give me an idea. Maybe Gypsy knows something more about your world. She’s the more experienced breacher. Maybe she’s seen something.”

“Who’s Gypsy?” Sam asked.

“Multi-dimensional bounty hunter,” Cisco said at the same time Barry replied, “Cisco’s girlfriend.”

“She has powers similar to mine,” Cisco explained. “But multi-dimensional travel is illegal on her earth. Some bad experiences. Anybody crossing in or out, she’s in charge of finding and bringing to justice.”

“Justice in this case, meaning death,” Barry said.

“Don’t piss off the girlfriend,” Dean said. “Got it. So, we’re talking what, an interdimensional phone call?”

“Something like that,” Cisco said. He closed his eyes for a moment, and Dean wondered if he were going into some kind of trance. After a second, Cisco’s eyes snapped back open and locked onto something Dean couldn’t see. “Gypsy, we need your help.” He paused for a moment, listening, before rolling his eyes. “No, I don’t need you to save my ass again. I’m trying to send some breachers back to their world, but it’s complicated. Could you just come here, please?” Cisco’s vision snapped back into focus as a rift opened and closed, with a short, dark-haired woman dressed in black jumping out.

“You’re really telling me you need my help to deal with a couple of breachers?” the woman asked. But then her eyes locked on Sam and Dean and recognition filled her eyes before she shot out her hand and threw them back with a red sonic blast.

“Well, she definitely recognizes them,” Barry said, walking over to help Sam and Dean to their feet.

“Geez, lady, what did we ever do to you?” Dean asked, pushing himself to his feet.

“To me? Nothing. But only because so far you two have kept your destruction limited to your own world. Mostly.” Gypsy turned back to Cisco. “You’re actually working with the Winchesters?”

Cisco looked back over his shoulder, deciding not to mention this was the first time he’d heard Sam and Dean’s last name. “Uh, yeah. Is that a bad idea?” He studied the two men warily. “Are they bad guys?”

“They’re basically on Earth-19’s Least Wanted list. They’ve nearly destroyed their earth. A couple of times,” Gypsy said.

“So? Barry’s almost broken ours like three times,” Cisco said.

“Dude! Not helping,” Barry said.

Cisco shrugged. “Just saying. Disasters happen. Kind of goes with the job territory. I mean, I once inadvertently brought on an alien invasion that almost killed two million people. You once brought forth a race of sentient super-gorillas from another dimension that tried to destroy the city. None of us are perfect.”

Gypsy sighed. “Fine. What do you need?”

“We need to find a world adjacent to theirs,” Barry said.  

“One we don’t exist in,” Dean added. “A post-apocalyptic wasteland because we weren’t there to save it like we were for ours.”

Gypsy eyed Dean suspiciously. “And what exactly do you need from a post-apocalyptic wasteland?”

“Our mom,” said Sam. “We need to save her from-“ Sam cut himself off, realizing that the next part wasn’t going to help their case with a woman who didn’t trust them.

But she caught his hesitation. “Save her from who?”

Sam sighed. “The Devil.”

“The actual – “ Gypsy shook her head. “Nope. Nuh-uh. It’s one thing to get involved with the problems of _people_ from other worlds, but you don’t screw around with forces that come from outside of the multiverse. Heaven and hell are way above my pay grade.”

“Fine,” Cisco said, crossing his arms. “You don’t want to go, I understand completely.”

Gypsy met his gaze with a hard look. “You’re still gonna go, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“And inevitably going to need my help to save you from almost certain death when you and your pals here piss off Satan?”

“Probably.”

Gypsy sighed. “Fine. I’m in.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Before I take you through, I need you to promise me that this is going to be just about getting your mom back,” Gypsy said.

“Yeah, of course,” Sam said. “What else would it be?”

“A hero complex,” Gypsy replied. “Trying to save everyone – a whole world, a doomed one. One that isn’t even yours. I know the earth you’re talking about. It’s been decimated. There’s barely any humans there to save and the ones who are alive-” Gypsy shook her head. “The multiverse has a balance. Saving a world you weren’t meant to save – even a portion of one, could have dangerous repercussions, and there’s no telling where or when they could strike – your world, mine, theirs,” she said, gesturing to Cisco and Barry. “So I’m telling you to get your mother and go home. Whatever else you see, whoever else you think you can save, don’t.”

Sam and Dean exchanged a look before nodding at Gypsy. “Fair enough,” Dean  said with a shrug.

Cisco handed Dean and Sam earpieces. “These should allow us to communicate within world once we get there. To locate your mother, I need something personal, since I can’t get a vibe off you two. Do you have anything of hers?”

Dean reached into his wallet and carefully pulled out an old, worn photograph. He started to hand it to Cisco, but at the last second pulled back. “If you mess this up, I will hunt you down.”

“Okay,” Cisco said, taking the photo. “You know they can scan photos, right?” He studied the picture for a moment, a blonde woman holding a baby with a beaming little boy clinging to her side who bore very little resemblance to the world-weary man in front of him. His eyes widened as the vibe came in. The same woman from the photograph in a basement with her wrist shackled to the floor. There was a streak of blood across her face, but otherwise she seemed unhurt. Cisco snapped back out of the vibe. “She’s alive.”

Sam and Dean let out sighs of relief.

“Is she hurt?” Sam asked.

“Was she guarded?” Dean asked at the same time.

“Not badly and no she didn’t seem to be,” Cisco answered.

“We should split up then,” Gypsy said. “Cisco can go in and get your mother while we distract Lucifer, keep him contained while Cisco gets your mother and brings her back here.”

“Contain Lucifer?” Sam asked. “You really think it’s that easy?”

“There is one way,” Dean said to his brother. “But we’re gonna need one of the superhumans to make a trip to Jerusalem first.”

*

Cisco jumped through the breach and landed in a basement in the other universe. He saw Mary slumped over against the wall of the basement. He rushed over to her, reaching out to help her off the floor, only for the woman spring to her feet and aim a swift left hook at Cisco’s face powerful enough to knock Cisco to the ground.

“Cisco, did you find her?” Barry asked over the comms.

Cisco held his nose. “Well, she punched me in the nose the second she saw me, so, yeah, pretty sure it’s Mama Winchester.”

Mary lowered her fists. “You know my boys? Where are they? Are they safe?”

“They’re trying to fight the Devil to save you, so, uh, probably not,” Cisco said. “I told them I’d get you out of here and back to your world.”

Mary shook her head. “I’m not leaving without my sons.”

Cisco sighed. “I was afraid you’d say that.” Cisco reached out his hand, blasting the chain.

Mary stared at the chain dangling from her wrist in amazement before turning back to Cisco. “How did you – what are you?”

Cisco rolled his eyes, thankful Mary couldn’t see it under his goggles. “It’s complicated.” He reached out a hand towards her. “Come on, I’ll take you to them.”

*

Sam, Dean, Barry and Gypsy studied their surroundings. “Are you sure this is the right world?” Barry asked, looking around at the empty desert landscape.

“This is it,” Dean replied. “Where’s Lucifer?”

“Did you think we were just going to arrive right next to him? We need the element of surprise,” Gypsy replied.

 “Hello, boys.”

The four companions turned sharply to see the Devil standing them. “Well, so much for the element of surprise,” Dean muttered.

Lucifer smiled. “I knew you’d find your way back here. I didn’t know you’d bring such…strangely dressed friends. I mean, I can appreciate the leather look as much as the next guy,” he said, gesturing towards his jacket. “But that” – he pointed at Barry – “that seems extreme. Even for me.”

“Funny, the paintings made it look like you were into the head-to-toe red look,” Barry said.

“Maybe taunting the Devil’s not the best idea, Flash,” Gypsy said.

“We just want our mom back,” Sam said.

“And I just want my son back,” Lucifer countered. “Care to make a trade?”

“He has a kid?” Gypsy asked. “You failed to mention that.”

“Would you have helped us if we had?” Dean replied.

“Mary has been wonderful company,” Lucifer continued. “I was actually beginning to consider a more permanent arrangement. Old Nick here-“ he chuckled at his little joke – “it’s not quite the vessel it used to be.”

“She’ll never say yes,” Dean said.

“There was a time you thought that about your brother, Dean, and you were wrong then, too,” Lucifer said.

A breach opened beside Gypsy, and Cisco and Mary jumped out.

“Sam! Dean!” she shouted.

“Mom!” Sam reached one long arm out and pulled his mother tight to his chest, clutching her like he would never let her go.

“Now!” Dean shouted.

Gypsy opened a breach, disappearing into it and reappearing behind Lucifer, throwing the small bottle of holy oil at him, which shattered on contact. Barry ran forward, doing quick circles before pulling back his arm and throwing out a bolt of lightning. Lucifer screamed as he went up in flames and disappeared.

The metahumans stared at the space where he had just been. “Did you just Molotov Satan?” Cisco asked.

“Not for long,” Sam replied. “We gotta get out of here before he reforms.”

Cisco threw open a breach and they all jumped through. The breach was just snapping shut when Lucifer reappeared.

“No!” he shouted as he watched the chance to be with his son disappear before his eyes for the second time.

The heroes arrived back in STAR Labs, where a confused Iris sat at one of the computers.

“I was gone for a couple of hours, and you’re buddy-buddy with the breachers now?” she asked. “What did I miss?”

“Long story,” Cisco said, sliding off his goggles.  

“You’re lucky that dumbass plan worked,” Gypsy said to Dean. “You know he’s gonna come for you and your world, right?”

“We’ve stopped him before,” Sam said. He sighed. “Of course, back then we had help.”

“You still do,” Barry said. “Even if we’re, you know, worlds away.”

Cisco held up one finger. “Hold on, I actually have something to help with that.” Cisco took off running back to his workshop.

Dean pointed in the direction Cisco had just gone. “Does he remember you guys have faster ways to go places?”

Iris waved it off. “Eh, it keeps him from getting too cocky.”

Dean smiled and held out his hand to Iris. “Hi, I’m Dean. Let me guess – you can fly.”

“What? No.” Iris smiled back at him shaking his hand. “Iris West. Ordinary human.”

The two stared at each other smiling for a long moment before Barry interrupted by clearing his throat. “And my fiancée.”

“Right,” Iris said, seemingly realizing Barry was in the room for the first time. She sidled closer to Barry, slipping her right arm around his waist and holding up her left hand to show the ring. “Happily engaged.”

Dean looked at the happy couple wistfully for a moment before focusing on Barry. “Lucky guy.”

“I know,” Barry replied, looking down at Iris who smiled back.

Dean turned to Gypsy. “Well, nice to meet everyone, but we’ve got our own world to get back to, so if you just – “ he made a blasting motion with his hands – “that would be great.”

“Wait!” Cisco yelled, running back in holding a round metallic object. He held it out to Sam.

“What is this?” Sam asked, staring at the object.

“It’s an interdimensional extrapolator,” Cisco said proudly.

Mary looked back and forth between Sam and Cisco. “Are we supposed to know what that means?” Mary asked her son.

“It opens breaches,” Cisco said. “I’ve set it to open breaches between your world and ours. It’s also got a communication interface, so you can contact us. I gave Supergirl the same thing when she visited.”

“Did he say ‘Supergirl?’” Mary asked.

“It’s – it’s a long story, Mom,” Sam said.

Mary took the object from Sam’s hand. “And I was just getting used to smartphones. This looks like it came straight out of _Star Trek._ ”

“And this way, you don’t have to burglarize any more museums,” Cisco said.

“I guess science sometimes is better than magic,” Dean said.

“More like science fiction,” Mary said.

“You’re not wrong,” Iris said.

“We should probably go,” Sam said, taking the extrapolator back from his mom. “Thank you. For everything. We promise next time we visit it won’t be to steal something.”

“ _He_ promises,” Dean muttered.

“Dean,” Sam said sternly.

“Fine,” Dean said. “ _We_ promise. And you can call us next time an evil sorcerer tries to deep fry the planet.”

Barry rolled his eyes. “Please. Oliver doesn’t even call _us_ when that happens. We probably won’t even know about it until long after the crisis has been averted.”

Dean shrugged. “Either way. The offer stands.”

Sam held out the extrapolator, pushing a button on the side. Just like Cisco had said, a small blue vortex appeared in front of them. The Winchesters jumped back through and the breach closed behind them.

Barry studied Iris for a moment. “You weren’t, like, flirting with Dean there, were you?”

“What? No. Why would you think that?”

“Let’s see. Over six feet tall, brown hair, green eyes, puts the world in danger and then saves it. I think you have a type,” Cisco said.

Iris smiled. “You want me to tell Gypsy she’s not the only superpowered, leather-clad woman you’ve had in _your_ life, Cisco?”

Gypsy turned to Cisco with raised eyebrows.

Cisco chuckled nervously. “What? No, I just – hey, who wants to go fight crime? I’m just gonna – “ Cisco threw open a breach and jumped out of the room.

Gypsy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, he forgets I can do that too.” She threw open her own breach to follow him.

Iris smiled at Barry. “So what do you think Dean looks like in a single layer of clothing?”

Barry rolled his eyes and walked away.

Iris laughed as she followed after him. “Aw, babe, I was joking.”


End file.
